Isaiah 64
English Standard Version
64 (A)Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
(B)that the mountains might quake at your presence—
2 [a] as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
(C)to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3 (D)When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4 (E)From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
(F)no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?[b]
6 (G)We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
(H)We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7 (I)There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in[c] the hand of our iniquities.
8 (J)But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
(K)we are the clay, and you are our potter;
(L)we are all the work of your hand.
9 (M)Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
(N)and remember not iniquity forever.
Behold, please look, we are all your people.
10 (O)Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 (P)Our holy and beautiful[d] house,
where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
12 (Q)Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?
Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?
Footnotes
- Isaiah 64:2 Ch 64:1 in Hebrew
- Isaiah 64:5 Or in your ways is continuance, that we might be saved
- Isaiah 64:7 Masoretic Text; Septuagint, Syriac, Targum have delivered us into
- Isaiah 64:11 Or holy and glorious
Isaiah 64
International Standard Version
A Prayer for God to Intervene
64 [a]If only you would tear open the heavens and[b] come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—
2 [c]just as fire sets twigs[d] ablaze
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make known your name to your enemies,
yes, to your enemies before you,[e]
so that the nations might quake at your presence!
3 When you did awesome deeds that we expected,[f]
you came down,
and the mountains shuddered before you.
4 Since[g] ancient times no one has heard,
and[h] no ear has perceived,
and[i] no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the aid of those who gladly do what’s right,
To those who remember you in your ways.
See, you were angry,
and we sinned against them for a long time,
but we will be saved.
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and[j] all our righteous acts are like a filthy rag;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind, our iniquities[k] sweep us away.
7 There is no one who calls on your name
or rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have given us[l] into the control[m] of our iniquity.
God, our Father, will Act
8 But as for you,[n] O Lord, you are our Father;
and[o] we are clay,[p]
and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hands.[q]
9 Don’t be angry beyond measure, Lord,
and don’t remember our iniquity for a season.[r]
Please look now, we are all your people.
10 Your holy cities have become a desert;
Zion has become like[s] a desert,
Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy Temple and our splendor,
where our ancestors praised you,
have become[t] a conflagration of fire,
and all our dearest places have become[u] ruins.
12 Lord, after all this, can you hold yourself back?
Can you keep silent and punish us so severely?
Footnotes
- Isaiah 64:1 This v. is 63:19 in the MT
- Isaiah 64:1 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:2 This v. is 64:1 in the MT
- Isaiah 64:2 Or brushwood
- Isaiah 64:2 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads to make your name known to your adversaries
- Isaiah 64:3 So 1QIsaa; MT reads did not expect
- Isaiah 64:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads And since
- Isaiah 64:4 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:4 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:6 So 1QIsaa 4QIsab LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:6 The 1QIsaa utilizes a masculine noun; 1QIsab MT utilize a feminine noun
- Isaiah 64:7 So 1QIsaa; MT reads have melted us; LXX reads have delivered us
- Isaiah 64:7 Lit. hand
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read But now
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks and
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT read the clay
- Isaiah 64:8 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads your hand
- Isaiah 64:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads for ever
- Isaiah 64:10 So 1QIsaa LXX; 1QIsab MT lack like
- Isaiah 64:11 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read Our holy and glorious Temple … has become
- Isaiah 64:11 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads all our dearest places has become; MTmss read our every dearest place has become
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